BRUCE WALTERS, Kennewick

An editorial from the Yakima Herald Republic was printed Dec. 3 on the Herald's Voices page. The editorial praised Washington state for leading the way in implementing the Afforded Care Act.

I see how it is going to work. A few of us are going to pay for everybody else. We buy our health insurance on the open market. We received a letter from our insurance company stating that our premiums were going to increase by 25 percent. The increase is because of new mandates for coverage in Washington state, and because health plans cannot vary rates depending on how much or how little we use them.

For major medical coverage, our premiums are now more than 20 percent of our income. If we decide to become cash customers, we are charged more for services than what insurance companies are, but it is against the law for a provider to charge an insurance company more then a cash customer. What a system.

I don't know how long the middle class can keep supporting the rich, the poor and the corporations of this country. Maybe it is a government plot to break the middle class, so we are all completely dependent on the people who are in control, who somehow keep getting re-elected.